November 25, 2019 | 8:45am
Hoda Kotb is tying the knot.
The “Today” co-anchor, 55, announced on the morning show Monday that she and longtime boyfriend Joel Schiffman are engaged.
Showing off her giant engagement ring, Kotb revealed that Schiffman, 61, surprised her with a marriage proposal while they were on vacation recently in Mexico.
“Literally we went on our usual vacation. We ended up having a little dinner on the beach and were done with the dinner,” Kotb recalled. “I was eating the churros, licking the bowl … he said some beautiful things and got down on one knee and said, ‘Will you be my wife?'”
She added, “I was shocked.”
Kotb and Schiffman, who works in finance, are parents to adopted daughters Haley Joy, 2, and Hope Catherine, whom they welcomed earlier this year.
“We’re still trying to figure out that part of how to explain [the news] to [our daughters],” Kotb said.
The couple has been dating since 2013, though Kotb kept Schiffman’s identity a secret from the public for a long time, referring to him only as “Boots” on air.
This is the second marriage for Kotb, who wed Burzis Kanga in 2005. They divorced in 2008.
See Hoda Kotb’s and Joel Schiffman’s relationship in photos.
Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman have made it six years together and they have taken to Instagram to celebrate. Hoda wrote, "Yesterday marked 6 years with this incredible man. 6 years..2 children..2 new jobs...1 grateful heart." While Hoda was once famously secretive about her beau, we're taking a look inside their relationship based on what she has let slip.
Joel met Hoda at a book signing. After a string of uninterested Wall Street types brushed her and her book off, Joel came up and asked her to sign his copy. After that, a contact from the event reached out to Joel, and the romance unfurled from there.
At the start of their relationship, the two kept things under wraps. But when photos emerged of Joel, the jig was up. Hoda made light of the reveal on "Today," saying, "I feel some relief. I talked to him this morning and he said, 'Who cares? Who cares!'"
Getty Images for Time
Two two have both been married before. Joel shares a grown daughter with his ex-wife, while Hoda was married to tennis coach Burzis Kanga from 2005 to 2008.
When asked on "WWHL" if the two were ever going to get married, Hoda responded that, "I'm going to be with Joel until my last breath -- I know that." She then compared their relationship vibe to that of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell's.
When the couple began to take the next step by moving in together, Hoda couldn't keep her true desire to be a mom a secret any more. She told Wendy Williams, "I cannot move in with him unless he knows that I have this feeling inside I can't push down anymore. I want to be a mom." Hoda presented the idea to him, and the two began the adoption process shortly after.
In February of 2017, the couple welcomed an adopted baby girl named Haley Joy. Hoda told People that she left Joel's name off the adoption papers to simplify the process, but she later told Wendy Williams, "He's the father."
Hoda described Joel to Wendy Williams as "The finest man I've ever met... he's everything." And she and Haley seems to be celebrating him as such.
In April of 2019, Hoda and Joel surprised the world again by announcing that they had adopted a second daughter named Hope Catherine. Hoda told "Entertainment Tonight," "We like the idea of Haley [having] a sibling because she has had such interesting circumstances to grow up. So it would be nice to be able to share it with somebody."
The couple seems to be happier than ever, regularly posting their family moments on social media and gushing about their newest addition on the "Today" show.